Four Victoria police officers assaulted in past 24 hours

The Victoria Police Department has arrested two individuals after four officers were assaulted in two separate incidents within the past 24 hours.

Friday morning, two officers were transported to hospital with non-life threatening injuries after arresting a man.

The local department was called to the 500-block of Johnson Street in downtown Victoria at approximately 7:15 a.m. for reports of a break and enter in progress.

An officer was able to identify a suspect with a description that was provided at the Douglas Street and Pandora Avenue intersection. After a brief conversation, the suspect assaulted one of the officers and attempted to assault the other before fleeing.

He was stopped at Douglas and Yates streets where police used a Taser in an attempt to arrest the man. However, according to a statement from VicPD, the Taser was not successful and after a brief struggle the man was taken into custody. During this second altercation, another officer was injured.

Both injured officers could potentially be off work for some time and one is still in hospital.

The suspect was not injured during the arrest and remains in custody.

On Thursday, April 5, two officers were assaulted while trying to arrest a man in the 800-block of Cormorant Street.

Officers were called to the scene after reports of two men fighting inside a business. When police arrived on scene, one of the individuals was located as he was walking away. According to a statement from the department, “officers attempted to de-escalate the situation and when they went to arrest the man, he became extremely violent, assaulting two officers in the process of the arrest.”

Additional officers were called and were able to safely arrest the man. One of the officer’s glasses were broken during the altercation but both assaulted officers were able to return to work.

The suspect was not injured during the altercation. However, he was the subject of another serious altercation with VicPD members last year, and was arrested for resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer and breaching probation. He is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.